Promise to Obey Read Free Page A

challenging look.
    ‘Are you coming, or have you changed your mind already?’
    Jessica did not know what to say. He was giving her a chance to back out. Say yes, and in twenty minutes she could be sitting on a wet platform, waiting for a train back to London, if there were any trains back to London at this time.
    ‘I’m coming.’
    It didn’t sound like her at all. Some other person was speaking . Some strange woman that she didn’t know. The real Jessica Harlow had gone into hibernation.

    The hall floor was tiled with black and white squares. A curving staircase led to the upper regions. Busts of Greek philosophers stood on marble pillars and portraits of ancestors in oil glared down from the walls.
    Someone had put bursts of wild flowers on side tables and their scent was overwhelming. The huge vases looked antique and valuable.
    ‘Mrs Harris, the housekeeper,’ said Lucas, putting down her case and bag. ‘She has a mania for picking flowers but no sense on how to arrange them. It requires a special skill. Perhaps you can do flowers. Let me show you round.’
    He opened a door to the left. It was a long, gracious room in ivory and pale blue with a grand piano, armchairs and more portraits. ‘The sitting room,’ he announced. ‘My mother uses it when she has bridge parties.’
    Jessica could not imagine anyone sitting there and feeling comfortable. It was stiff and unused. A room that was kept for best and best never happened.
    Lucas turned right off the hall. ‘The library. No overdue fines.’
    The room was wall to wall leather-bound books, ninety-nine per cent unread. But Jessica spotted a small clutch of modern novels on a side table. It also had a computer at a desk overlooking the drive. The several armchairs were deep and inviting, well used. There was a small wine cooler in a corner.
    ‘Can you use a computer?’ he asked.
    ‘I’m not from outer space,’ she answered, biting off each word.
    ‘You may use this one. Remind me to give you the password.’
    Lucas nodded, then opened sliding doors in a wall between the bookcases. ‘This leads into the dining room. So if we hold a party, we can use both rooms. Unfortunately, we rarely hold parties. Such a pity. This house was made for parties.’
    The dining room was beautiful with eau de nil walls, toning carpet and curtains. More portraits on the walls. A long polished walnut table that could seat at least twelve people. Jessica hoped she would not have to eat here.
    ‘How do you talk to each other?’ she asked. ‘With walkie-talkies?’
    ‘No,’ he said. ‘We don’t sit marooned at either end. We sit together, here at the top. It’s really pleasant. Nearer the kitchen, so the food is always hot.’
    He took her up a few steps into a strangely bleak area, whitewashed walls and low ceiling. There was nothing in it, apart from a stone inglenook fireplace. The floor was made up of huge slabs of uneven slate. Their size was amazing.
    ‘We think this is the oldest part of the house, perhaps even before the farmhouse. Maybe it’s all that is left of some medieval hall. This middle post has been dated back to 1412. All the rest has gone.’
    The post was thick and blackened, gnarled and sturdy enough to hold up a roof. Lucas stood with his arms laced easily round the post in an embrace, something he had done since a child. He was looking at the post fondly.
    ‘How do they know how old it is?’ Jessica asked.
    ‘They took a core sample,’ he said. ‘It’s the tiniest plug ofwood. They can tell the date by the year rings. It’s very clever and very accurate.’
    ‘No graffiti?’
    ‘Not on our rings.’
    ‘I’m relieved.’
    They went back into the hall and began climbing. The stairs divided halfway and Lucas took her first to the left. ‘The kid’s bedrooms are in this wing. They have a bedroom each, a family bathroom, and their nanny’s room is next door.’
    ‘Do I have the nanny’s room, then?’ Jessica felt this was to be her